The Wanderings of Cassius
by matt8094
Summary: This is the story of an Imperial noble named Cassius. After travelling to Solitude and surviving an assassination attempt, he must go on the run with an unexpected companion. Possible DB involvement.
1. Prologue

Cassius woke up as the ship was pulling into port. He gently opened his eyes after the 26 day journey from Cyrodiil to Skyrim. The ship was successfully ported at the dock just a little distance from the capitol city of Solitude. He sat up in the bed that was against the far wall from the door in his moderately sized cabin. The cabin contained a bed, a small desk to do any writing that he needed to do, a small wooden dresser, and various wall decorations. There wasn't a door, but instead, where the door would be, there was an archway that was just open. As he was sitting up in his bed trying to regain some of his senses after waking up, one of the sailors came by the doorway and knocked on it. He blubbered something about being docked as if he had said the same thing a million times and expected to say it a million more.

Cassius leaned his legs out over the bed until his feet set down on the uncomfortable wooden floor. He stood up and walked over to the wooden dresser next to the bed. He pulled out some of his clothes and quickly put them on. His family back in Cyrodiil is the one of the noblest families, the Oldern family, so he has the best clothing and equipment that you could buy on the market. The clothes that he didn't put on he stuffed into his bag. He pulled his weapons out of their cases to inspect them. He had brought his signature ebony sword and bow and a backup dagger made of steel in case he needed to use it. He was told that when he arrived at Solitude to go straight to the Blue Palace because Jarl Elisif is expecting his presence for an audience. He was here to attend a party at the Blue Palace in the stead of his parents. A whole month of sea travel just to attend a party…

Cassius put his weapons back in their respective cases. He strapped his bag to his back and picked up his weapon cases and headed up to the top deck. He hadn't been very social on the trip. He had been relatively social with the other passengers and sailors, as much as can be afforded because of seeing the same people every day for a month. His parents had tried to send a servant along with him to help him with day to day functions, but Cassius profusely refused. He could take care of himself, no matter what his parents thought. He was a perfectly capable Imperial of twenty-three. As he was walking up to the deck he passed by an ornate mirror that looked like it had been moved from the hold to the deck that Cassius' room was on. It'll probably be unloaded soon. He stopped and looked into it. He saw himself. His parted black hair and his tanned skin. He stared into his tired, blue eyes. He was almost mesmerized at what a stark contrast his worn facial features were from his nobility clothing. He turned and continued to walk up to the top. The hatch to the top deck was open as busy sailors came in and out hauling cargo from the hold. When Cassius got out in the open air he realized how cold Skyrim actually is. He had never actually traveled up north of Cyrodiil, but he had known, from his schooling, that Skyrim had a very cold climate. He had, of course, never experienced the cold firsthand though. He looked around and took in all that he saw. He saw that they had sailed under and arch, to get to the dock, that was holding up the part of the city that is leading to the Blue Palace, where the High King of Skyrim and the Jarl of Solitude resides. The former High King of Skyrim had been recently assassinated by the would-be-usurper, Ulfric Stormcloak, the Jarl of Windhelm. Cassius continued to look around and saw the dock they were sitting at. This dock is controlled by the East Empire Company, which is the largest shipping and marketing company.

Cassius soon realized that he was just standing on the deck of the ship, gawking and staring like a sightseer. He walked off of the ship and onto the dock. When he had walked onto the dock, he heard a loud voice call out, "Lord Oldern!"

When Cassius heard his name being called out, he turned to where the voice was coming from and saw a Nord, looking to be in his late teenage years. The boy ran up to him and performed a surprisingly well-practiced bow.

"Jarl Elisif has commanded me to deliver you to the Blue Palace with the utmost haste. I will be taking you there in the Jarl's personal carriage that is up at the road. May I take your bags, sir?" the boy said.

Cassius noticed that the boy was genuine in the little speech that he gave him. It did not sound forced at all. Or maybe he has practiced it enough like that because he's been told that he must be friendly and well-mannered to foreign diplomats such as Cassius. He took his bag off and gave it to the boy, but he withheld his weapon cases. He didn't want the boy to accidentally damage them, no matter how skilled and well-mannered he may be. They began to start walking up to the spot where the boy had left the carriage. While they were walking Cassius saw many Argonian dockworkers down at the docks, milling about around the East Empire Company warehouse. He, however, did not notice any dockworkers that were any other race. He decided to ask his 'guide' about this.

"Why are there only Argonian dockworkers?"

"Because that is the only job that an Argonian can get in a city. That is why you will generally only see Argonians in cities that have docks," He responded casually.

This was very confusing to Cassius as this was not how it was in Cyrodiil. Argonians were very common to see in cities. They finally made it up to the carriage and it was a fine one. It was led by two horses and the carriage was enclosed with doors on either side of it. There was an Imperial guard outfitted in light armor standing in front of the doors. Cassius made the assumption that he was there to guard him and the carriage from anything that might happen. The boy went up to the driver's seat and the guard and Cassius climbed into the carriage. The inside was very ornate. It had drapes for the windows and the seats were very comfortable. The walls were engraved with different kinds of art. Mostly old Nordic type stuff. The carriage started moving onward and Cassius settled down in his seat.

"It won't take long to get to the city and once we are there it is just a few minutes of a ride to the palace," the guard said to Cassius.

Cassius nodded his head but otherwise remained silent for most of the ride. They neared the city wall and he saw a small camp of people outside the city. It looked to be Khajiit merchants. Cassius wondered why they were camped outside of the city and not inside where all the people can see their wares.

"Why are they not inside the city selling their merchandise?" Cassius asked the guard.

"Because, sir, the Khajiit are not allowed inside of the city. Khajiit are thieves that would rob us blind and feel no remorse about it," the guard said with a disgusted look on his face.

Cassius felt troubled about this. In all of his interactions with Khajiit they seem to be very noble and honest people. It seems that the people of Skyrim are quite intolerant of Argonians and Khajiit. Skyrim was not making a great first impression on Cassius. When they neared the city gate a couple of guards open the gate as to let the carriage come through. There was a commotion right inside the gate however, that they had to slow down for because there were so many people standing in the streets. As soon as the guards at the gate realized this they ran inside and cleared the citizens out of the street to let the carriage come through. As they were driving past the commotion Cassius looked out of the window and saw a man that was about to be beheaded. He turned to the guard and said, "Has this man done such a great crime that would befit such a punishment?" He fully believed, at this point, that the man could have done a trivial thing to be punished like this.

"That man's name is Roggvir, m'lord." the guard said, "He was the guard that was posted at the gate on the day of High King Torygg's assassination. He opened the gate and let Ulfric Stormcloak escape from the city."

Cassius understood now why this man was being executed. He also felt that this was a just punishment for the man, considering Torygg was the High King and was very friendly to his family. Solitude was a very nice city, but it wasn't as nice as the Imperial City back in Cyrodiil. They arrived at the Blue Palace in no time when they had gotten through the crowd. The palace was nothing like the Imperial Palace and the White Gold Tower. Cassius stepped out when a servant opened the door for him. He stepped out and was ushered into the palace without having time to get his weapons, which he was quite unhappy about. When he entered the palace he looked up and there was a crossbow pointed right at his head, pointblank.

"Hello, Lord Oldern. We've been expecting you here," his assailant said with a grin.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Hi guys! I hope that you have enjoyed the prologue to this story. I have worked quite hard on it over the course of a few days. I, of course, own no rights to Skyrim, only my character. I hope to be posting again soon. I will as soon as I have another chapter ready for you.**


	2. Passive Confrontation

Cassius screamed at himself for letting them rush him into the palace without first getting his weapons. He, first, quickly racked his mind for something that he could do. He did not have any equipment that he could use to get out of this situation. He had, unfortunately, not concealed his dagger on his person like he usually does. A man came up beside the man with the crossbow. He looked to be the leader of his assailants.

"It looks like you wandered right into our trap, so unwittingly. It's quite unfortunate that your parents couldn't be here, but don't worry because they will be taken care of soon," the man said with an evil grin on his smug face.

"Who are you?!" Cassius yelled in question at the man.

"We are an unassociated group that just wants to survive," the man stated, studying Cassius.

Cassius didn't quite know what was going to happen. He wasn't sure what action to take. A man came up behind Cassius and shackled his wrists. Now he was really hopeless, because now he can't fight back with the effectiveness that is would take to beat these assailants who took over a palace without the city or the Legion finding out. Cassius felt a wave of energy wash over him and he couldn't move any of his muscles. A paralysis charm!

"Don't worry, m'lord. We'll take good care of you," the leader said to him and laughed evilly as he turned and walked away.

Cassius felt a large impact on the back of his head and quickly everything went black.

* * *

Cassius slowly awoke with his head pounding in pain. He opened his eyes and he was laying on the ground in a dark prison cell.

'_So they've taken over the palace, kidnapped me, and threw me in the dungeon'_

He sat up and heard motion in the corner of the cell. He quickly spun around to see what was moving. He saw the outline of a person huddled in the corner. He noticed that the person had the figure of a female, but he couldn't make out the facial features of her.

"Who's that there?" Cassius asked cautiously.

When the female didn't respond, Cassius got to his feet and inched towards the woman slowly. She remained still until he got right up to her. He reached down and put his hand on her shoulder and as soon as his hand made contact she jumped as if she was incredibly frightened. She looked up at him with fear on her face. They made eye contact and Cassius immediately felt a pulling toward the woman, as if he wanted to protect her from whatever may come their way.

"Are you okay?" Cassius asked her as softly as possible.

Before she could answer the sound of a door opening at the end of the corridor could be heard and the footsteps of several people were walking down toward the cell that Cassius and the woman were in. As the men got closer a light could be seen shining down the corridor, so one of them must have a torch or a lantern of some kind.

The men finally got to the front of the cell where Cassius and the woman were. There were four men. The one holding the torch was a Bosmer wearing light armor. He had what looked to be a short sword on his belt. The next man was standing behind all of them. He was an incredibly tall Orc wearing all heavy armor and some kind of two handed weapon strapped to his back. Cassius could only see the handle of the massive weapon, not what it came to at the bottom. The man next to the Orc was a Dunmer. He had a crossbow on his back and two daggers on his belt along with his light armor. The leader was front and center. He was an Imperial, like Cassius. He had the same smug smile he had when he had first captured Cassius. He was wearing light armor and had a broadsword on his belt. He motioned to the man with the torch and the Bosmer stepped forward and opened the door. The Bosmer stepped into the cell first, as he was the one with the torch; therefore it was his job to illuminate the contents of the cell. The Bosmer sidestepped to the right of the door. Next, the Dunmer walked in and went to the left of the door. The leader came in after them and stayed in the center and the Orc stood in the doorway, as to deter the prisoners from trying to make a run for it.

"Ah, lord Cassius. I see that you are awake already. Good. That saves me the trouble of having to wake you." The leader said smugly. "I see that you have also met your cellmate, Elisif the Fair, former Jarl of Solitude. It's a shame really, how little of a fight the guards put up for her before they quit the fight. Oh, don't think that it was just us four that stormed the palace. I command quite a strong force of men."

Cassius had guessed as much. There's no way that a group of four men could take over an entire castle by themselves. He knew that there had to be more men to the band of marauders that he had yet to see. His question was how they managed to do it without anyone else in the town being none the wiser of it. Even the Imperial Legion stationed in Castle Dour doesn't know that the Blue Palace is under the control of these insurgents. He looked over at the woman that was in the corner of the cell.

'_Elisif? What have they done to you?'_

"We haven't harmed her in any way. She has just been like this since we've taken over a week ago." The leader said, this time without the smile on his face. "Ah, but where are my manners? My name is Vontus Rian. It is a pleasure to serve you m'lord Oldern." He said with a bow. He proceeded to introduce the names of the men in the cell with him. The Bosmer's name was Faulgor. The Dunmer's, Deval. The Orc's, Yargol.

"What do you want with me?" Cassius asked the man without looking up into his no doubt evil eyes.

"Ah, see, that's the real question isn't it? I'm afraid that I cannot answer that at this time. It's business, so I hope you will understand. You do come from a noble house after all." The Imperial said with a grin.

Just then, Cassius heard a door at the end of the hallway open and heard a man running down the hallway toward where they were. When the man came into view, Cassius was shocked for a moment and then something clicked in his head. The man was wearing the uniform of a palace guard. So that's how they did it, they were able to overwhelm the palace guards from inside their own ranks.

The man seemed out of breath as he slightly bent down. "Vontus, you are needed up top. The legion is asking more questions again and we are running out of answers." The man said in a rushed manner.

"Very well." Vontus said to the man. "Well, m'lord. It sure has been fun and I have enjoyed the time that we have spent, but I have other matters to attend to. Don't worry, I'll be back before too long."

Vontus turned and left the cell and so did the Dunmer. The Bosmer, Faulgor lingered for a moment before turning and walking toward the cell door. Just before he exited the cell, he dropped something out of his hand discreetly. Only Cassius noticed that he had dropped something. The Orc shut the cell door and locked it once Faulgor had exited the room. Cassius waited until the group had exited the dungeon hallway before he made a move for the dropped item. He scurried in the dark to find the item and it took him a good bit before he finally found it. He couldn't quite see, but he knew what the item was just from the feel of it.

'_A lockpick!'_

* * *

**I apologize for the long wait for this chapter. Final exams tend to take up a lot of one's time, but I am done with that now and the chapters should be coming up regularly. I hope you have enjoyed it and continue to follow and enjoy this story. Thank you!**


	3. Maybe This Wasn't The Best Idea'

**Author: Hey guys, I'm so sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I kinda fell off of writing it for a while, but I recently got back on. I've been pouring over this chapter for the past week and I finally finished it. Since you guys had to wait so long, I decided to write you an extra long chapter. So please, enjoy.**

**-matt8094**

* * *

He couldn't quite see, but he knew what the item was just from the feel of it.

'_A lockpick! Oh yes, this will do quite nicely.'_

He shuffled around in the dark. It wasn't quite pitch-black, but it was still dark enough to where it would impede him in anything that he tried to do. He found his way over to the door and then searched it until he found the lock. He studied it for a moment before he gently placed the pick into the slot. He was taking it slow, as he didn't have too much experience in doing this, but he knew how fragile the little tools could be if you applied enough force to them. Also, it really didn't help that he couldn't see very well. Once the pick was in the lock, he twisted it slowly to try to find the sweet spot that would allow him to escape the prison that he was confined in. First, he twisted it to the left, hoping that it would not be too difficult. He applied torque on the lock once he thought he found the correct angle. He didn't have proper lockpicking tools, so he had to make do with what he had: his hands. He used his thumb to torque the lock. Just when he thought that it was about to open up, he felt that it couldn't go anymore. He reset the lock and twisted the angle on the pick once more. Again, he tried to apply torque on the lock, and again the lock did not go all the way. He was being very cautious because he had only one lockpick, so he could not just try to force the lock and take the chance that his only means of escape would be broken. He wracked his mind trying to think of something that would help in this situation. Alas, he couldn't find anything though, so he resorted to walking to the back of the cell and sitting against the wall.

He sat down and looked over to his cellmate, whom he had almost forgotten because of her silent demeanor. He wondered why she was being like that. He wondered why she wouldn't talk to him.

"So, barring that you have any skill in picking a lock in the absolute dark, it looks like we will be here for a while, Elisif." Cassius said, hanging his head as he sat there at the back of the cell.

"It would seem that way, wouldn't it?" She replied, looking up at him.

He did likewise, look up at here. He hadn't expected her to talk back to him. "Oh. So she can talk, eh?"

"Yes, I can talk." She said in a very commanding tone. Cassius could now see why she made a good Jarl. Even in the few words that she has spoken to him, she seems very noble and endearing. "But no, I do not have any experience with picking locks. I've never had to do such an activity."

"I've found that it's good to have a very diverse set of skills." Cassius said while grinning at her, though in the almost absolute dark he was sure that she didn't see it. "What sort of skills do you have, Elisif?"

She snapped her head in his direction. "That's Jarl Elisif to you." She said with a serious tone in her voice.

"Not so much anymore. Not since you got put in this cell" Cassius snapped back at her.

"My location may have changed and my palace may have been taken, but I am still the rightful Jarl of this city. Although, not a very good one. My guards did not even want to defend me and when they became overwhelmed there wasn't anything keeping them from running away." Elisif said while lowering her head in shame.

"I believe that the marauders may have had help from inside the palace guards. The man that just came in had a guard's uniform. I could be wrong though. They could have just taken the uniforms after they took the palace in an attempt to fool the legion. Vontus also may have been lying about the amount of men that he commands in an attempt to discourage us from trying to escape. That seems like a perfectly reasonable attempt at intimidation. The thing is though, is if I try to call his bluff and he really wasn't bluffing, we could be in a heap of trouble. If only I had my weapons…" Cassius said, half talking to Elisif, half trying to reason with himself on a suitable course of action.

"So tell me, Elisif, what skills do you have?" Cassius asked her in curiosity.

"I don't have that many combat skills. I'm good at cooking, but I'm really quite terrible with a sword. I do know a bit of magic from my old court wizard, Sybille." Elisif responded.

Cassius pondered this for a moment. How could magic help them at the moment? There was obviously no way that he was going to be able to pick the lock in the dark.

'_I wonder…'_

"Elisif, do you know any fire magic?" He asked her curiously.

"Yes. I know a spell that will conjure flames, but it's very taxing on me since I'm not that good at magic in the first place." She said, looking at him and wondering why he was asking.

"If you can use those flames to heat up the latch enough, it should be weak enough that I should be able to just kick it open. It might take a while to get it to a sufficient temperature, however." Cassius said, looking at her hopefully.

Elisif pondered this for a moment. It seemed to be a logical solution, but how could he have come up with this idea? "It seems to be a good idea, but I wonder if it will actually work." Elisif pondered out loud.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Cassius said while standing up. He walked over to the door and found the lock. He then moved his gaze over to the latch that was preventing his freedom. Elisif stood up and moved over to where he was. This was the first time that he had seen her stand up. She was still wearing the clothes that she was wearing when the palace was taken over. She stood next to him and he noticed that she was about a head shorter than him. She looked at the latch that he was looking at. It was important the she heated the latch because that was the part that Cassius needed to break.

"I think it can be done." Elisif mumbled to no one in particular.

"Well, if you can do it, the sooner we get this over with, the better." Cassius remarked, stepping back to allow her some room to work.

She stood back away from it a bit and conjured the flame in her hand. She pointed her palm towards the latch and then the fire came streaming out of her hand, lighting up the cell and the hallway that was outside. Cassius had, of course, seen magic being used before, so he wasn't shocked to see it happen. He did, however, have to appreciate the sheer power of magic users. If they can master a field of magic, they are indeed a frightful force. The next half hour was spent with Elisif heating the latch, resting for a moment, and continuing that process.

Finally, after what seemed like forever for the two, the latch was finally heating up to a good temperature and was red with the heat. Elisif moved back and Cassius kicked the cell door as hard as he could. The door shook violently, but did not come off the latch. Cassius recovered from the kick and kicked it again, harder this time. The effort paid off and the latch broke and the cell door fell to the ground making a very large crashing sound.

"Well, I'm quite sure that they heard that. If there's a guard at the door, he should be coming in soon." Cassius said quickly.

They both ran out of the cell and as they looked to the door, sure enough, there was a man running through. He was armed with only a dagger and seemed to be alone. The man started to run at Cassius.

Cassius stepped in front of Elisif and faced towards the man. Once the guard got within distance of Cassius, he thrust his dagger at him with his right hand. Cassius sidestepped to the left and grabbed the man's wrist with his right hand. He then put his left hand on the man's elbow and applied pressure, successfully breaking it. The guard, screaming from the pain, released the dagger. Cassius took the dagger in his right hand and swept the guard off his feet with his left leg. While the guard was on the ground, Cassius bent down and struck the guard on the head with the pommel of the dagger, knocking him out.

Cassius stood up and turned to look at Elisif. She just stared at him for a moment.

"What? I come from a noble house. You have to know how to protect yourself from assassins." Cassius remarked when Elisif did nothing but stare at him. "But now isn't the time for talking. We have to get moving." Cassius continued.

Cassius looked down at the dagger he was holding. It was a simple weapon made of iron, and it didn't look very sturdy. However, it was the only thing he had to defend himself with at the moment. Honestly, he had gotten lucky. That guard that just assaulted him wasn't trained very well. He probably didn't have much combat experience. That's why Cassius had been able to take him down without a fight. The unconscious guard on the ground was wearing a palace soldier's uniform. This might have been the man from earlier that had made Vontus leave the dungeon.

Cassius turned to the way that the man came into the hallway. There was an open door at the end of it and he light was coming in. He grabbed Elisif by the wrist and pulled her in his direction, as if to signal her that they were moving. They both walked to the end of the hallway. Cassius cautiously peered around the door to the room that was opened up to them. It was a simple room that held a chair and desk against the wall and spiraling stone stairs that led up. The stairs were on the adjacent side of the room from the door that led into the dungeons.

"It looks like that guard was the only one down here. You know the layout of this palace better than me, so where should we go?" Cassius said, turning to Elisif.

Elisif put her hand just under her chin. "We should start off by going up those stairs, obviously. When we get to the top we won't be far from the main entrance. We will be closer to the entrance to the west wing. That's the side that faces the Sea of Ghosts from the outcropping that the palace is built on." she said.

"Very well. Let's get moving then." Cassius said as he walked through the doorway into the next room.

Cassius and Elisif climbed up the stairs and emerged at the top. The stairs led out into a hallway with yet another door at the end of it. Once they had gotten to the end of the hallway, Cassius carefully opened it and checked outside. There was no one there, not a soul. He was starting to believe that Vontus was just lying about the amount of men that he had here at the palace. Cassius opened the door all the way and as soon as he did so, someone charged him and covered his mouth and closed the door. Elisif gasped and Cassius was getting ready to attack when he saw who it was. It was the Bosmer from earlier, Faulgor. Cassius backed off a bit, but didn't take his guard down because it still could be a trap.

"You finally got here, I was wondering if you had even noticed what I left you." Faulgor said. "But nevermind that, you two need to get out of here. Vontus is planning on killing you two after he gets what he came for. I'm sorry, but I can't help you escape. What I can do is hold Vontus off for a few moments. He expects me back any moment. Once you escape the palace head straight for the marshes. Once you are there you will find a cabin, this is a safehouse. There will be someone there. Tell them that Faulgor sent you. They will then ask you for a passphrase. Tell them: 'Silence, my brother'. That's all I can do for you."

Cassius stared at him for a moment. He was wondering if he could trust him. He hadn't even told him why he was helping them. I guess that he had to trust him if he wanted to get out of here alive. Cassius was in a foreign land, so even if he had gotten out on his own, he wouldn't know what to do or where to go. "Very well, I will trust you… for now. Will we see you again after we get away?" Cassius asked.

"I'm not too sure about that, so I can't give you an answer right now." Faulgor said. "I have to go now." He looked at Elisif, "My Jarl, I'm afraid that you are going to have to flee with him."

"If I must, I will." Elisif said.

'_Wow, that hurts. I just broke you out and that's what you think of me?'_

Faulgor opened the door and walked out, turning to go to wherever Vontus was. Cassius watched him disappear around a corner. He decided it would be a good idea to go in the opposite direction. From what Elisif told him, he deduced that they were in the west wing of the palace. To the left of the door was where Faulgor had gone, the hallway formed a T-shape there. Faulgor had gone left. To the right of the door was a dead end with a window that gave him a clear view of the sea. The blue palace was built on a different landmass than the city was on. The bridge leading to the palace contained the houses of the nobility and is what formed the arch when sailing into port at the city. A guard came around the corner from the left of the door. He was wearing heavy armor and had a two-handed sword strapped on his back. As soon as he saw Cassius and Elisif in the hallway he drew his sword and yelled out that the prisoners had escaped, so backup was on the way. Cassius made a rash decision. He grabbed Elisif by the wrist and ran the other way, towards the window. Elisif didn't really know what he was doing, but she continued along with him.

Cassius let go of Elisif and grabbed the stone bust of some noble person that was on a stand against the wall of the hallway. He reared back and threw it as hard as he could towards the window. The bust hit the glass and shattered it, flying out of the window. As they neared the window he wrapped his right arm around Elisif's waist and continued running. When they were right upon the window, he jumped and pulled around to the front of his body and they both went head first out of the window. Elisif was screaming as they went falling down from the palace.

'_Maybe this wasn't the best idea...'_


End file.
